9:57 pm: A day after jumping into poll fray here, a transgender has sent a legal notice to AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal asking him not to use the ‘Aam Aadmi’ tag, since being an ex-chief minister he comes under “special person” category.

9:41 pm: Ending days of speculation, PMK, contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with BJP, today announced K I Maniratnam, who unsuccessfully sought a Congress ticket, as its candidate from Chidambaram (Reserved) constituency.

9:32 pm: BJP President Rajnath Singh took on Congress over the issues of price rise and unemployment under its rule and said a BJP government, if voted to power, will bring prices under control within six months.

6:54 pm: BJP today kept up its attack on Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying he may not answer questions posed by it on the country’s economy but the people will answer by voting for it in the Lok Sabha elections.

3:49 pm: Arunachal Pradesh CM Nabam Tuki claimed that there was no Modi wave in the state and Congress would make a clean sweep in the April-9 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

3.29 pm: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the markets have built up high hopes of the elections delivering a stable Government, but cautioned against “some turmoil” in the equity, and perhaps the bond and forex markets, if an unstable dispensation comes to power.

3.03 pm: Leading Telugu actor N Balakrishna, the son of TDP founder president late N T Rama Rao, has expressed his desire to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He is likely to contest on a TDP ticket.

3.01 pm: Stating that long standing ties with its saffron ally have been normalised, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray today said BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have assured him that MNS will not be included in the ‘Mahayuti’.

2.37 pm:Uma Bharti on Tuesday maintained that BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi does not have the oratorical skills of A B Vajpayee, but said the Gujarat Chief Minister was a “unique person” who draws massive crowd.

2.30 pm: Several Indian Americans have joined the campaigning for AAP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections fray in their own way — few travelling to India, others making calls to friends and families back home seeking votes and some signing as cyber warriors.

2.27 pm: BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday claimed that aviation authorities at the Delhi Airport did not give prompt permission to his helicopter for taking off due to which he was late for his rally in Bareilly.

1.49 pm: With actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani entering the fray as a BJP candidate in Amethi, a war of words has broken out between her and AAP contender Kumar Vishwas over his remark that any “Irani or Pakistani” will not make any difference in the constituency.

12.06 pm: Congress leader Raj Babbar has hit out at BJP candidate V K Singh over his allegations that the actor-turned-politician was buying votes, saying the former army chief must reveal his source of information.

11.35 am: Smriti Irani has said that it’s a two way fight in Amethi between the Congress and the BJP. According to the BJP candidate, the Aam Aadmi Party is not a part of the contest.

11.29 am: Subramanian Swamy has taken a potshot at Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying Chidambaram must first improve her Hindi before commenting on Narendra Modi.

11.18 am: Hitting back at Narendra Modi, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said his party wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Nanded due to the anti-incumbency factor and that his family including sitting MP and brother-in-law Bhaskarrao Patil was firmly behind him.

11.00 am: BJP leader Uma Bharti has asserted that she stands by her remark that Narendra Modi is not a good orator.

10.37 am: According to reports, a female Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker has slapped a man trying to enter Arvind Kejriwal’s road show in the national capital.

10.28 am: Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari has said that Smriti Irani will pose a strong contest against Rahul Gandhi and may also win from Amethi.

10.20 am: The Congress has dismissed any challenge to Rahul Gandhi with the arrival of Smriti Irani as a BJP candidate in Amethi, pointing that she had earlier contested against Kapil Sibal and lost.

10.12 am: A family in Bihar’s Kisanganj Lok Sabha constituency is hogging attention of all political parties in the fray because of its chunk of 48 voters.

10.05 am: Singing some of his hit numbers like ‘Ooh la la la’ and ‘I am a disco dancer’ in his poll campaign, Bappi Lahiri is using his music to seek votes as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.

9.28 am: In a rare praise for Narendra Modi, veteran BJP leader L K Advani has said people should elect the party’s PM candidate and see how things change.

9.22 am: BJP leader Smriti Irani has taken a dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying he himself has become a challenge for Amethi.

9.16 am:

Issues lost in the din of election rhetoric Electoral debate should be on the UPA’s 10 yrs performance & are better prescriptions on offer?